title: Development and validation of a pharmacy migraine questionnaire to assess suitability for treatment with a triptan.
abstract: A questionnaire (Migraine Questionnaire; MQ) was developed to help pharmacists identify consumers with migraine suitable for non-prescription treatment with a triptan. Adults, who knew or thought that they had migraine, participated in three, sequential, community-based studies to validate the MQ. Overall, 1,353 subjects completed independent assessments with a pharmacist and a clinician (reference standard). The accuracy of the pharmacist assessment of suitability for a triptan was compared with the clinician assessment. Clinicians using their standard practice determined that triptan therapy was suitable in 76.8% of cases compared with 48.8% for pharmacists using the MQ. The lack of concordance between pharmacists and clinicians in the false-positive cases (n = 113 of 660 subjects considered suitable for triptan by the pharmacists) usually related to headache diagnosis (57.5%), not safety aspects. The MQ is an effective tool for pharmacists to guide appropriate recommendation of a non-prescription triptan for migraine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Christoph
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Diener
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dowson
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Whicker
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bacon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010595:Pharmacists; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014363:Tryptamines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014363:Tryptamines